LarryC

Time Pilot,

If the catapult were connected through rotating wheels the plane would just sit there. But it has a hook. Likewise, if you hook the back of the plane to the runway with a hook, it won't move. But the plane is sitting on wheels with bearings, movement of the tires doesn't matter. It's movement of air that makes the plane move. That comes from propeller thrust.

Rutan just made a flight in a rocket powered plane that took off from a runway. Do you think it would sit still on a treadmill? Nope, don't think so. It doesn't care what the wheels are doing either.

The wheels aren't propelling the plane down the runway. It doesn't matter what they are doing.

Larry